So easy. So important.

With April 15 just around the corner, Wisconsinites filing state income tax returns have an easy way to support cancer research at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

2012 Wisconsin State Tax Forms 1, 1A, WI-Z, and 1NPR include a section for taxpayers to designate any dollar amount to cancer research. That amount is either subtracted from the refund or added to taxes owed.

All funds raised through the State of Wisconsin Cancer Check-Off Program are distributed evenly between the state's two medical colleges. The Cancer Center uses these contributions to provide direct support to MCW’s cancer investigators, usually in the form of seed grants that fund basic, translational, and clinical cancer research aimed at developing new treatments for patients.

Seed grants are critical to the development of novel ideas and projects, new investigators, and the future of cancer research leading to improved patient care. Seed grants provide investigators with the initial support they need to further their science, collect data, publish, and secure peer-reviewed funding.

Associate Director of Administration Andrea Brown, MBA, said, “In an era of declining support from the federal government and private entities, cancer-focused investigators are grateful for this simple and effective way to support cancer research in Wisconsin and at MCW.”